


Revealed

by Kass



Category: Cinderella (Fairy Tale), Megillat Ester | Book of Esther
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 07:18:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13712679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kass/pseuds/Kass





	Revealed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mihrsuri](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/gifts).



Esther doesn't remember her mother Habiba, because Habiba fell ill during childbirth and died soon after. She's raised by her father Mordechai and his new wife, who comes to the marriage with two obnoxious daughters, both older than Esther. Her step-mother and step-sisters make her life hell, in ways that are no less painful for their banality.

When Achashverosh announces his plan to hold a masquerade ball after exiling Vashti, no one in Shushan can talk about anything else for weeks. Her step-sisters argue endlessly over what they will wear. When everyone leaves the house for the ball she's just grateful for the silence.

Her step-mother gives her an endless list of tasks to perform while they're gone. She's on task fourteen ("make the old lamp shine like new") when the djinn emerges from its spout. When he snaps his fingers, the rest of her house-cleaning work is magically complete, and her clothing is transformed into a mask and gown fit for a queen.

Later, when she remembers that night, the djinn's choices will seem prescient.

She dances with everyone at the ball, including the king who's looking for a new bride. Achashverosh is besotted immediately. His chief vizier, Haman, is clearly trying to win favor by being the one to match the king with his next ladylove. He scowls at her when she inadvertently foils those plans.

She loses a sandal as she's dashing home, and the next morning one of the king's eunuchs materializes at their door to see whose foot it will fit. The instant she puts it on, her rags are transformed again to the royal robes the djinn had provided. Her step-mother faints on the spot. Mordechai merely beams.

That the new queen has her origins in poverty makes her the talk of the town. But she is smart enough to keep her more scandalous secret -- her religious heritage -- to herself until after she and Achashverosh are wed.

Esther's step-mother notices that Haman is the power behind the throne, and promptly seduces him. Esther worries only for her father, lest his heart be broken. But if he even notices that his wife is fawning over the king's chief vizier, he doesn't seem to mind. He is happy in his new apartment adjacent to the palace, borrowing book after book from the king's own library.

For Haman's part, his jealousy is his undoing. He hates that his new paramour is married to a Jew. And somehow he never puts two and two together to reach four; never realizes that if Mordechai is a Jew, so also must Esther be. Maybe because her step-mother isn't Jewish -- but Esther wasn't born to that harridan, she was born to a God-fearing Jewess whose soul gleams now in the heights of the highest heavens along with the souls of the righteous of every generation.

When Esther calls Haman out, Achashverosh recoils. That's the end of Haman, and once he's executed, the wicked step-mother flees, never to be seen again.

Mordechai lives to a ripe old age, and he dies with a smile on his face, ready to see his beloved Habiba again.

Esther and Achashverosh live happily ever after. When their son Cyrus is born, she insists on _brit milah_ , and Achashverosh -- elated to have an heir -- agrees.

When Esther reaches the end of her life, she is buried in the Jewish cemetery alongside Mordechai and Habiba. When she reaches the afterlife, her parents embrace her, weeping tears of joy.

 

_There's a midrash that says that Esther was the mother of Cyrus. This is my best attempt at a mashup between the megillah of Esther and the Cinderella story. I hope you enjoyed!_


End file.
